Today is the day that Microsoft has released the latest version of its flagship operating system- Windows 10. David Pogue, tech writer for Yahoo, wrote:

“I’ll review the various improvements and new features, but if you’re in a hurry, the main thing is this: Windows 10 is coherent. It makes sense. Its design no longer leaves you pounding your forehead on your desk, ruing the day that Microsoft lit up whatever it was smoking.”

If you run Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, you may have already reserved your free upgrade. Microsoft expects over 1.5 billion people to be using Windows 10 in the near future.

Microsoft made early versions of Windows 10 available to developers and to the public to make sure the final release was as stable and as compatible as possible. We, and many RootsMagic users, have tested and confirmed that the software works as designed in the new operating system.

So whether you’re an early-adopter and are already downloading Windows 10, or a cautious user taking a wait-and-see approach, we’ve got you covered.

Important Update: Apparently Microsoft snuck in a last-minute change that didn’t exist in earlier test versions and the upgrade has been a little bumpier than we had expected. There is a Windows registry entry needed in Windows 10 to allow programs to display data using the internal browser component (again, it was working in Windows 10 preview builds). This prevents the internal WebSearch from working, certain text appearing on some screens, and backing up to Dropbox and Google Drive.

We will address this problem in our next update. In the meantime, we’ve put together a quick fix that corrects the problem now. To apply the fix:

Today is a holiday in the United States- Presidents’ Day. But it’s special for me in a different way. Today would have been my dad’s 79th birthday. My father, Gordon Dixon Booth, passed away last month on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 7:31 a.m. He died at home, comfortable, and surrounded by his loved ones. And on this, his first birthday since he left us, I wanted to share some things about him that have shaped me and have left their mark on RootsMagic in ways that many wouldn’t know, until now.

Gordon’s accomplishments were many. He was extremely intelligent and earned many degrees including a Ph.D. in Statistics. He held many positions of responsibility in the communities where he lived. He had a long, distinguished career where he conducted countless experiments and authored just as many papers. But for me, his greatest work was at home and the personal and permanent impressions he left on his family.

Being Together

My dad loved Disney. He grew up collecting Donald Duck comics and reels of Disney cartoons. So naturally, my early years were filled with Disney books and toys. But none of that could compare to the day that he and my mom loaded up the station wagon with six kids and drove halfway across the country to Disneyland. From that time on, we enjoyed dozens of pilgrimages to the Happiest Place on Earth.

For us, it wasn’t the rides, parades, or fireworks that were most important. It was always about being together, building memories, and having fun together. My dad didn’t have a lot of outside hobbies or recreation that he did on his own. His joy came from being with his family and doing things together.

Technology

My dad was the original “early adopter”. Whether it was building a radio transmitter as a young boy; buying one of the first personal computers in Ames, Iowa (a Commodore Pet); or taking “selfies” of himself near the end of his life, he always loved the latest gadgets and technology.

To the dismay of my patient wife, I inherited this trait as my house is just as cluttered with new gadgets and technologies today as the house I grew up in. It’s served me well, however, as we’ve worked to make our software work with emerging technologies such as mobile platforms, online databases, and cloud services.

Programming

As a statistician, my dad pioneered the use of computers to perform complex analyses and computations using programs which he wrote on punch cards. And when my family bought that first Commodore Pet computer, it exposed me to this amazing new world. At the tender age of four, my dad helped me write my very first computer program.

As the years went by, he would buy the latest computers and would learn to write software on them. Like a master and apprentice, I would sit in a chair next to him and watch him write code. Over time, I would get to the point where I could spot bugs and mistakes. The first paid job I ever had was writing code for him to use in his software.

Genealogy

My love of genealogy came from my parents. When I was 11 years old, they took my sister and me down to Salt Lake City to the newly-opened Family History Library. My dad took me over to racks of microfiche that contained the International Genealogical Index, or IGI. He showed me how to look up a name, write down a batch number, find the microfilm, and use the microfilm reader to look up a photographed record. It was like a big treasure hunt and I was hooked.

Entrepreneurship

My dad was an entrepreneur. Even though he worked for many years for the U.S.D.A., he always had a side-business that he would work on to get off the ground. I watched as he wrote and marketed his own statistical analysis software, “Visible Regression” and “The Time Machine”.

When the IGI became available on CD-ROM at the Family History Library, he came up with an idea for a program which would convert the GEDCOM files exported by it into something more easily used and searched. He encouraged me to write it and “GIPSI” was born. Even though I was only in high school, my parents helped me market, sell, and ship the software, leaving all the profits to me. The proceeds from GIPSI helped me pay my way through college and my LDS mission.

After graduating from BYU with a master’s degree (in statistics, of course), I went to work side-by-side with my dad in “Booth Associates”, the statistical consulting company that he founded. My dad so engrained the entrepreneurial spirit in me that I can only count on one hand the number of times that I have worked for somebody else.

Personal Historian

In 2003, I was talking with my parents about personal histories and how they wanted to write their own and the histories of my grandparents. We looked for software out there to help us with the task and, not finding any, decided to make our own. After several months of development, experimenting, and testing, Personal Historian was born.
My parents worked hard to help me get the new product off the ground. We travelled to many conferences and spent many days, nights, and meals together. When I joined up with Bruce and RootsMagic, my parents came along for the ride.

Conferences

My dad was passionate about family history and loved talking to people about our software. He was one of our best salespersons! He also became a popular presenter at conferences teaching classes on British research, photography, and personal histories. In fact, many of his old presentations are still available at his website, AncestorLink.com.

The Last Challenge

Gordon’s last great challenge was with memory-loss and dementia. For someone who loved to learn, think, and teach, this was akin to a world-class athlete becoming paralyzed. As difficult as it can be caring for a loved one with memory-loss, I can’t imagine what must have been like for him to experience personally.

But he kept trying. He would optimistically buy books that he wouldn’t be able to learn from. He would ask me questions about his gadgets whose answers he knew he wouldn’t remember. He even attended his final genealogy conference in Ogden last September and worked in the RootsMagic booth. As he talked with attendees and answered questions, my mom and I marveled at how re-energized he was and how he almost seemed to be “back” for those brief few hours.

Conclusion

I love and miss Gordon. He’s my father, my mentor, my business partner, and my friend. He taught me how to be a programmer, a genealogist, and an entrepreneur. He showed me how to be a man, a husband to my wife, and a father to my own children. There is not a single aspect of my life that I can’t trace back to him and his influence. I cannot express my gratitude for all that he has done for me.

If I had to summarize all that he was, all that he did, and all that he means to me, it would be this:

This week is the famous RootsTech conference, which has grown into the largest genealogy event in the world. It’s being held Thursday, February 12 through Saturday, February 14, 2015 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve been a part of it since the beginning and this year we’ll be more involved than ever.

Expo Hall

Don’t miss the free expo hall with the largest gathering of genealogy products and services in the country. Be sure to visit the RootsMagic booth (#719) to meet the RootsMagic staff, ask questions, and get special discounts on RootsMagic products.

Expo Hall hours (subject to change) are:

Thursday, February 12, 2015, 10 am – 6 pm

Friday, February 13, 2015, 10 am – 7 pm

Saturday, February 14, 2015, 10 am – 4 pm

RootsMagic Class

For registered RootsTech attendees, we are offering a special class (RT1778), “RootsMagic: Sharing and Publishing Your Family Tree” on Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 11 am in Ballroom G. You’ll learn how to add pictures, create beautiful charts, publish books, make shareable CDs, design stunning websites, and share your research with others.

RootsMagic Ribbons and Prize Patrol

We always like to have a little fun at RootsTech and this year, we are excited to introduce our new RootsMagic Badge Ribbons and the RootsMagic Prize Patrol.

Here’s how it works:

Stop by the RootsMagic booth (#719) in the Expo Hall and pick up your free RootsMagic Badge Ribbon.

Stick the ribbon to your name badge or someplace visible on your person.

Throughout the RootsTech conference, the RootsMagic Prize Patrol will be hanging out in a random spot. The first person they see wearing a RootsMagic ribbon wins a prize!

Prizes include RootsMagic software, bags, books, flash drives, Amazon gift cards, and more! So make your first stop at RootsTech the RootsMagic booth (#719), pick up your ribbon, and wear it with pride. You could win some pretty cool stuff!

Can you believe that it is New Years Eve already? As is tradition, we in the RootsMagic underground labs like to reflect on all that has happened this past year. And don’t forget to check back on Thursday as we present our resolutions for 2015. But until then- let’s flip the calendar all the back to the beginning of 2014.

RootsMagic for Android

On February 7, we officially released our free RootsMagic for Android app. It was the latest step in our efforts to make RootsMagic available on whatever device you use, wherever you go. Android was the latest platform to join RootsMagic for Windows, iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) and even the Mac (with help).

Support and Tips

We know that one of the reasons our loyal users love RootsMagic so much is that no other genealogy software provides the level of support and training that we do. Over the past four years, we have pioneered the use of “webinars“, or free online classes, to help you learn anything you wanted to know about our software. Our webinars have been viewed and downloaded over a million times from users in nearly every country on the globe. And best of all, all of our webinars are archived and still available, free of charge.

We’ve also answered the demand for smaller, briefer tutorial videos that focused on very specific tasks. With this in mind, we introduced our YouTube channel, RootsMagic TV. These videos are usually only a few minutes long and quickly show you how to do particular task without the details and explanations that you’ll find in our regular webinars. Best of all, because they are hosted on YouTube, they are easy to share with others via e-mail or social networks.

In 2014, we’ve added regular tips and articles via this blog. These have been warmly received and we’ve loved hearing your feedback on them. They include:

A New Home for The Master Genealogist Users

This direct import not only imports basic genealogical information from TMG like names, events, notes, and media, but also imports witnesses (with roles), source templates, and sentence templates. In fact, RootsMagic has the most complete TMG import available anywhere. Of course, due to different data models and template languages, no import can be 100% perfect but we prepared a guide to make the transition as smooth as possible.

MacBridge – Run RootsMagic on Your Mac Without Windows

On September 5, we released MacBridge for RootsMagic. MacBridge for RootsMagic allows you easily install and run RootsMagic on your Mac in mere minutes with almost no additional setup or configuration.

MacBridge for RootsMagic is different than other solutions you may be familiar with. For starters, it does not install Windows on your Mac. It also does not create a slow and bulky virtual computer. It runs right on your Mac, using your Mac file system. You can even put the RootsMagic icon on your dock for easy one-click access! So while we are busily working on an actual native Mac version of RootsMagic, MacBridge for RootsMagic gives you the ability to work on a Mac today.

RootsMagic 7

On November 25, we released our brand-new RootsMagic 7. RootsMagic 7 adds DataClean, File Compare, even better online publishing, and the industry’s only multi-platform record hints, providing automatic hinting from both FamilySearch and MyHeritage. This upgrade has been our biggest and most successful to date and we’re thrilled with how well it has been received. Owners of previous versions of RootsMagic can upgrade for only $19.95

Thank You!

It sounds cliched, but we mean it when we say that none of this would have been possible without you and your support. We are grateful for the wonderful feedback, enthusiasm, and encouragement that we receive from our community. We hope that our work is deserving of your trust and support. 2014 has been an amazing year for us thanks to you!

]]>http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=23948http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2394Discounts, Delays, and an Extended Holiday Offerhttp://feeds.rootsmagic.com/~r/RootsMagic/~3/nQKzwMGGOhI/
http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2387#commentsMon, 29 Dec 2014 18:40:45 +0000http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2387On behalf of everyone here at RootsMagic, we hope that you’ve had a wonderful holiday and have had time to connect with family and friends. We’ve certainly had a very busy last few weeks since the release of RootsMagic 7.

To be honest, we’ve been doing this holiday offer for many years now and thought we had a good idea of how many CD’s we would need to order from our manufacturer to make it through the holiday season and the first part of 2015. Well, the demand for RootsMagic 7 on CD blew our expectations out of the water. We have sold and shipped every last CD that we had in stock. When it was apparent we were going to run out, we placed a rush order with our manufacturer for more. But with the holidays, we aren’t expected to have more CD’s in stock until the week of January 6, 2015.

With the delay in shipments, we’ve decided to extend our holiday offer. During this special holiday sale, you can order copies of RootsMagic 7 for just $19.95 (plus shipping). Even better, you can order our other products at that same $19.95 price.

Of course, in addition to being available on CD, RootsMagic 7 may also be downloaded so you can begin using the software right away while you wait for the CD to arrive. Or save yourself the cost of shipping and order the download by itself. Don’t worry, if you ever lose your registration key, you can always have it sent to you and download the software again.

There is no limit on the number of discounted gift copies you can buy during this limited time offer which will expire January 6, 2015. You will receive the full program for each copy you order.

The Christmas season is upon us and, for many of us, our thoughts turn to traditions, gifts, and family. It can be difficult to find a personal, meaningful gift that won’t end up stashed away in a box in the attic. With that in mind, here are 5 easy gifts that you can make with RootsMagic that will really bring families together.

1. Family History Book

There’s nothing quite like a solid, printed book. And RootsMagic’s Publisher feature does the heavy-lifting for you! With a few clicks, you can create a beautiful book complete with a table of contents, chapters, footnotes, endnotes, bibliography- even an index!

2. Shareable CD’s and DVD’s

If you’re looking for something a little more high-tech than a book, how about a computer disc? RootsMagic can create a Shareable CD that has all of your data and media on it as well as a special reader version of RootsMagic on it.

With a few clicks, you can personalize the disc and burn as many copies as you need to give to family members. They only need to pop the disc into their computer to view, explore, and even print their own family histories.

3. Family History Website

Are you looking for a free and easy only way to share your family history? The new RootsMagic 7 Online Publisher can create beautiful, dynamic websites with pedigree, family and individual views as well as supporting notes, sources, and media. And with our free MyRootsMagic hosting service, your genealogy has an online home with the click of a mouse. You can keep your website private for only your family or share your gift with the world.

4. Wallchart

A wallchart makes a visible yet decorative reminder of your family history that will beautify any home. You can use RootsMagic’s built-in wallcharts or use the Charting Companion software.

5. RootsMagic

Of course, what could be better than giving your family or friends the gift of RootsMagic itself? In what has become an annual tradition, you can buy discounted copies of our brand-new RootsMagic 7 software for yourself or to give as gifts.

During this special holiday sale, you can order copies of RootsMagic 7 for just $19.95 (plus shipping). Even better, you can order our other products at that same $19.95 price.

There is no limit on the number of discounted gift copies you can buy during this limited time offer which will expire December 20, 2014. You will receive the full program for each copy you order.

SPRINGVILLE, Utah. — November 25, 2014 — RootsMagic, Inc. today announced the official release of RootsMagic 7, the latest version of the award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history easy and enjoyable. With this release comes an update to the popular “RootsMagic Essentials” free genealogy software.

Family History Made Easy

Family Tree Magazine said RootsMagic is “probably the best all-around genealogy program” and “offers a winning combination of features for both casual and serious genealogists.”

Throughout its 13-year history, RootsMagic has helped people research and share their family trees with innovative features such as moving people from one file to another with your mouse, a SourceWizard to help you document your work, creating a Shareable CD to give to family and friends, and running RootsMagic off of a USB flash drive when you are away from home. RootsMagic has also received numerous awards, including the award for “Easiest to Sync” from FamilySearch for their work in interfacing with that system.

New Features

RootsMagic 7 adds many new features while making existing features even easier to use. “This release includes something for everybody,” said Bruce Buzbee, president. “Whether you want help finding records, or an easier way to share your family history with family, RootsMagic 7 has something new for you.” New features include:

WebHints

The industry’s only multi-platform record hints, providing automatic hinting from both FamilySearch and MyHeritage. Simply click the WebHint bulb next to a person’s name:

View the hint summary for both FamilySearch and MyHeritage…

Then click through to see the actual records.

MyRootsMagic

Our all new accounts which let you easily publish and maintain multiple online trees. From a single screen you can easily publish, view, change settings, refresh, or delete multiple trees.

Your trees can be public or private (password protected), and since your new online tree is database driven, you can change settings (like privacy settings, home page title and description, etc) for your website without having to re-upload your database again.

DataClean

Quickly find and fix possible problems with names and places. You choose which problem types to look for, and RootsMagic will display a list of all names or places with any of those problems. You can accept RootsMagic’s suggestions, or just part of them, or hand customize the place right from DataClean.

File Compare

Compare any two RootsMagic databases for a side by side comparison. Easily transfer people, names, events, notes, sources, or media between the two files.

Plus dozens of other enhancements and features

Free “RootsMagic Essentials”

RootsMagic 7 is also available in an updated, free edition named, “RootsMagic 7 Essentials”. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features from the RootsMagic software and the two products are fully-compatible with one another. “Many people are curious about their family history and don’t know where to begin,” said Michael Booth, vice president. “RootsMagic Essentials is the perfect way for someone to get started, risk-free.” RootsMagic Essentials is available for download at http://www.rootsmagic.com/try.

Available Now

RootsMagic 7 is now available online at http://www.rootsmagic.com/rootsmagic or by calling 1-800-766-8762. New users may purchase RootsMagic 7 for only $29.95. Users of previous versions of RootsMagic and it’s predecessor, Family Origins may purchase RootsMagic 7 for the upgrade price of only $19.95.

About RootsMagic, Inc.

For over 20 years, RootsMagic, Inc. has been creating computer software with a special purpose- to unite families. One of our earliest products- the popular “Family Origins” software, introduced thousands of people to the joy and excitement of family history.

That tradition continues today with “RootsMagic”, our award-winning genealogy software which makes researching, organizing, and sharing your family history fun and easy. “Personal Historian” will help you easily write and preserve your life stories. “Family Reunion Organizer” takes the headaches out of planning those important get-togethers. And “Family Atlas” creates beautiful and educational geographic maps of your family history.

]]>http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?feed=rss2&p=231910http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2319Tip: How to See When You Last Edited a Person in RootsMagichttp://feeds.rootsmagic.com/~r/RootsMagic/~3/-LrgM9BQUUY/
http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2288#commentsMon, 20 Oct 2014 20:38:58 +0000http://blog.rootsmagic.com/?p=2288

You stare at the list of names you have entered into RootsMagic over the years, and think to yourself “I wonder how long it has been since I’ve worked on that guy’s line?”.

As you make changes to your data, RootsMagic keeps track of the date you last edited each person. You may not have noticed it, but if you look in the bottom left corner of a person’s edit screen, you will see the date you last made a change to that person.

This is done automatically for you, and it isn’t something you can edit directly. There are a number of useful purposes for the “Last Edited Date”, and I’m here to show you a couple of them.

First, if you would like to just see which people you recently worked on, you can customize the People View in RootsMagic to not only display the date last edited, but also to let you sort your database by that date. Switch to the People tab in RootsMagic, and click the “Customize this view” button.

RootsMagic will open a form that lets you choose which columns you want to display in the People view. On the left side are the available columns, and on the right side are the columns you want displayed in that view.

There are 3 steps to adding a column… 1) find and highlight “Last edited” in the list of available columns, 2) click “Add to view”, and RootsMagic will move that field into the right column, and 3) highlight “Last edited” in the right hand column and use the “Move up” and “Move down” buttons to choose which position to display that column. I moved it to right after the “Sex” column as seen below, but you can put it anywhere you want (except the very first column which is always the person’s name).

Once you have added the “Last edited” column, you can easily sort the People view on that date by just clicking the header over the column. Clicking it a second time will sort the list in the opposite order. You can quickly and easily see either the people you have edited most recently, or the ones you haven’t touched in the longest amount of time.

There are a number of other areas where you can use the “Last date edited”, but the most useful is probably when you are selecting people. Whenever RootsMagic lets you select a group of people for something (such as a report, creating a GEDCOM, or creating a named group), it will display a list of the people in your file where you can check (or “mark”) the people you want to select. That screen will have a button named “Mark group” which will display a menu letting you choose to “Select people by data fields”.

The screen that then pops up lets you enter the “criteria” for marking people, and one of the fields you can select by is “Date last edited”. By selecting that field, you can select people whose “Date last edited” is before a date you enter, or after a date you enter, or you can even do something like:

Date last edited IS AFTER 1 JAN 2014

AND

Date last edited IS BEFORE 1 JUL 2014

to select people you edited between January and July of 2014.

The “Last date edited” is available in most places where you want to search, select people, sort, or even display in custom reports.

So while you may not remember whom you last edited or when, RootsMagic does. And with a little customization, RootsMagic can give you exactly what you want to know.

Have you misplaced your keys again? Not your car keys, but the registration keys for your RootsMagic software? If so, you’re not alone. Requests for lost or misplaced registration keys is our number one tech support issue, but you can actually retrieve them yourself.

Just visit our website at http://rootsmagic.com and hover over the Support menu at the top, then select Request a Lost Product Key.

On the page that appears, enter your email address (the one you used when you ordered the software) and click the Request button. All of your registration keys (for any products you have ordered from us), will be emailed directly to you. You can then print out or save that email for future use. The email will also include links to download the software associated with your key.

So the next time you “lose your keys”, just follow these easy steps to have the RootsMagic locksmith help you out.

Have you ever mumbled under your breath because RootsMagic didn’t include the field you always want to enter on the Add Person screen?

When you add a new person in RootsMagic, the first screen you see is the Add Person screen. It allows you to quickly enter the name, sex and a few basic events before adding the person to the database and opening the full edit screen. By default those “basic events” are birth, death, and burial. Depending on your research areas and methods, you may need to often enter other events such as christening, baptism, census, or wills. You can easily add and remove event types from this screen by clicking the “Customize this form” in the lower-left corner.

When you click the Customize link, RootsMagic displays the Customize screen where you can add additional fact types to the form. Click the “Add fact to form” button and you can select the fact type you want to add to the form. There are a couple of limitations to the fact types you can add. First, you can’t add an alternate name fact, since it is completely different from the normal fact types, and second, you can’t add a “family” fact type (like marriage, divorce, etc), since those facts are attached to families and not to an individual.

Let’s say you decide to add a Christening field to the Add Person screen. After clicking “Add fact to form” and selecting it from the list, the new field is added to the end of the list of fields.

It’s easy to rearrange the order that the fields will appear. Just click to highlight any field, then use the arrow buttons on the screen to move that field up or down to the desired position. You can repeat this for any of the fields. If there are any fields you don’t need, just highlight that field in the list and click the Delete button.

Once you have added the fields you want, and have rearranged them as desired, click the OK button and RootsMagic will return to the Add Person screen with the new set of fields you selected. You can continue adding the person, or just cancel from the Add Person screen and RootsMagic will remember your layout when you add people in the future. If you add more fields to the Add Person screen than can be displayed, RootsMagic will add a scroll bar to the screen so that you can scroll down to the additional fields you add.

So if you find yourself constantly adding a particular fact to everybody you enter, spare yourself the mumbling and take a second to add that field to your Add Person screen.